Eyes to Mike, Garrett said into the phone, “Reiterate to him I’ve got important shit I gotta see to in order to solve a murder. I’m comin’ down, but he’s only got five minutes.”
“Will do,” she replied, and disconnected.
Garrett put his phone in the cradle. “Mia’s dad’s downstairs and Kath says he’s ‘perturbed.’ I gotta give him five minutes, then we can go.”
Now Mike was perturbed.
“Her dad? Jesus, how old is she?” Mike asked.
“You spoil a kid like McClintock spoiled his daughter, I’m findin’ she never grows up,” Garrett replied, straightening from the desk, snatching his suit jacket from the back of his chair, and shrugging it on as he headed to the stairs that led down to the reception area.
He saw McClintock pacing just inside the front doors.
Both of Mia’s parents were height challenged—her mom Mia’s height, her dad about five foot five.
In life, this gave Justin McClintock something to prove.
It had served him well, because in business, the man took no prisoners. He wasn’t completely loaded, but he was far from hurting. He drove a Lexus. His wife drove a Jag. They still lived in a big house in a nice development even though their daughter and two sons had long since moved out.
And he gave his daughter a piece of jewelry, the like Garrett learned early he could never compete with, doing that every year, birthday and Christmas.
In the beginning, Garrett had given her other things. He’d made her laugh, made her happy. They were living the good life and he was a part of that, so this wasn’t a problem; if they had that, he didn’t care if her father gave her jewelry.
But in the end, they’d fought about it because he’d used something he didn’t care smack about to drive the wedge he was building between them deeper.
Mia had never asked her dad to lay off, though. She took the diamonds. The emeralds. The tennis bracelets. And she did it with glee, right in front of her husband, even after he’d laid it out—no matter how fucked up it was or how false—that he hated that shit.
Christ, but it seemed he hadn’t paid attention at all.
Walking down the stairs, watching Mia’s father turn angry eyes to him, and all he felt was relief that Cher’s father wasn’t in the picture.
And that he’d finally started paying attention.
He glanced at Kath as he walked by her, giving her a look that said he’d rather not have an audience for this.
She read his look, gave a short nod, grabbed some papers off her desk, and hurried toward the copy machine.
Garrett looked to McClintock. “Justin. Sorry, you picked a bad time.”
Justin puffed up his chest and skewered Garrett with his eyes. “Don’t give a shit if it’s a bad time, Garrett.”
His tone was antagonistic.
Garrett stopped three paces from him.
“Right. I’m down here outta respect but also to share we’re not only not gonna do this now, we’re not ever gonna do this.”
His tone was steel.
McClintock took a step toward him. “You think that, you think wrong.”
“Okay, then, Justin. How about after I wrap up a homicide investigation, I go to your office and we have whatever this is out on your turf?” Garrett suggested sarcastically.
“You fuck with my daughter, you don’t get to fuck with me. I fuck with you,” McClintock snapped.
Garrett crossed his arms on his chest. “I see Mia’s told you some tales, so I’ll give this the time it takes to set that straight. Your daughter and I divorced five years ago. I’m now in a serious relationship with another woman. Mia’s not in my life and hasn’t been in my life in any kind of healthy way for half a decade, so she doesn’t get any say about who is in my life. That’s it. There’s nothin’ more to it.”
“Mia’s shared how you’ve been stringing her along in a very unhealthy way. Those’re the ‘tales’ she’s been telling, Merrick,” McClintock returned. “Now, are you saying my daughter’s a liar?”
If Mia shared that kind of thing with her father, it was clear that the fucked-up non-relationship he’d had with his ex for five years after their divorce wasn’t the only unhealthy relationship in her life.
“I’m saying the relationship we have is none of your business,” Garrett shot back. “It wasn’t when we were married. It wasn’t after we were divorced. And the absolute lack of one now is the definition of it being none of your business.”
“I beg to differ when my daughter has quit her job, taken her house off the market, as well as broken off her engagement with another man all because she’s committed to helping her husband get his head sorted out. And while she’s committed to that and has shared that with you, you’re not only spending time with the town slut, word is, you’ve moved her in with—”
McClintock didn’t finish.
This was because Garrett moved and did it aggressively, backing McClintock up until he hit the connected bench of chairs that ran the front of the reception area. And he did this with such speed, McClintock’s ass crashed into a seat.
Looking up at Garrett, his face paled with fear before it reddened with bluster and he opened his mouth to speak.
Garrett leaned so they were nose-to-nose and beat him to it.
“Have you met Cher Rivers?” he growled.
“I don’t need to—”